Robert Mehaffey

motherduckpat@hotmail.com

12/30/1982 Hit R.frontal lobe by 10lb piece of steel that fell from 500' down to 200'. Pin went thru hardhat, knocking me off 6" I beam. Partner grabbed my foot but couldn't hold me. I slipped through his fingers and headed down 200' to a concrete pad with rebar sticking up thru it. Instead of falling down I landed horizontially approx. 12' away on a grating sheet.

Fellow ironworkers wrapped my head in a jacket and filled jacket with ice. Called for help to get me down. Took 45 minutes to get me down to ground. I was unconscious all the time. (My Dad was working on the same job and he told me this story). I was pronounced dead and ambulance drivers were waiting for my Dad to come down from the steel to accompany me to the hospital. Dad got into the ambulance and started pounding on my chest and hollering at me that I'd made him a promise that I would bury him, not him bury me. After several minutes of him beating on me my eyes opened up. And I looked around. Dad! hollered to the ambulance drivers that my eyes had opened up and to get me to the hospital NOW!

At Tampa General Hospital in Tampa, FL the doctors looked at my head wound, put 6 stitches in the headwound and sent me home. That was the full extent of the care I received. The headache main quickly became unbearable. I'd bang my fist against the wall to make something else hurt more than my head. The percodan, cafergot, Fentanyl, etc. never did much good. Barely took the edge off the pain. I'm on morphine, diazepam, flexeril & clonazepan along with Senekot S not. I've recently had an MRI that showed prior TIA's. Not surprising with a head injury. My ability to write and spell is gone along with short term memory loss, which is getting worse lately.

I would LOVE to share my story and experirnces with newly injured people. I speak clearly using plain language. I have a lot of information I'd love to share with people that may make their life a little better. I usually "build a watch" instead of just giving the time, but the working of the watch are as important as the time itself.

By: Pat Mehaffeym wife of Bob Mehaffey